Acts of Random Kindness
n conjunction with the release of Evan Almighty, the Ark Almighty campaign seeks to help churches meet the needs of those in their congregations and communities.
by Peter T. Chattaway | posted 6/21/2007
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Usually, when a Hollywood studio "reaches out" to the church audience, it does so with an eye toward selling tickets, period. And usually, when churches take notice of a film, it is with an eye toward finding quotes and clips that can serve as sermon illustrations, evangelism "tools," and the like.
But something different is happening with Evan Almighty.
Ark Almighty
One of the recurring themes in the film is that people can help to "change the world" through Acts of Random Kindness—or ARK, for short. And so, a few weeks before the film's June 22 release, a website went up called Ark Almighty, with the aim of connecting people with needs to other people in their church who can fulfill those needs.
Jennifer Harris, who coordinates the Ark Almighty program at First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Missouri, says people in her church have given out free food and done other people's laundry. So far, most of the requests have come from within the church, "but we're planning to open it to the community, for making requests," she says. "We're hoping that it's members of our church who are fulfilling those."
Personal information stays private, and it's up to coordinators like Harris to put the people with needs in touch with the people who volunteer their skills, after the requests are posted. Harris has also made a point of keeping the requests within reasonable limits. "The one we've had to watch so far was someone who wanted their lawn mowed every week of the summer, and we decided we aren't exactly a yard care service," she says. "That might be crossing the line just a bit."
Harris says her church, which is attended by about 500 people on any given Sunday, was already involved in outreach, but Ark Almighty has enhanced their efforts.
"We've had kind of a team in place, called Caring Hands, that has done a lot of these things," she says. "In fact, we're still utilizing them a lot, when needs come across that they would typically meet. I'll give them a call and let them handle it. But this has been a further step of that, and we've given people multiple opportunities to be able to get ahold of us and express the needs that they have."
The idea for the good-deeds program came from Grace Hill Media, a publicity firm that specializes in promoting secular films to Christian audiences. They got together with Youth Specialties, the International Bible Society and the Willow Creek Association to brainstorm ways of bringing the movie's "acts of random kindness" to life. (Grace Hill representatives declined to be interviewed for this story.)
David Welch, senior director of marketing for Youth Specialties, says the idea for the program actually goes back to Pay It Forward, the film starring Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment. "I remember churches and many pastors would use that Pay It Forward film as sermon illustrations," says Welch.
"So when this film came along and the concept of doing Acts of Random Kindness came along, the guy at Grace Hill thought, 'Oh, great, finally, an opportunity to take that excitement that we saw with Pay It Forward, and to do it as a Christian outreach and not just as an illustration.' It's bringing the film to life at that point."
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